Social Question

What do you think of the croatoan mystery?

I have always wondered about the colony on Roanoke Island that disappeared and the only clue was the word ‘croatoan’ carved into a tree. Do you think it was supernatural, natural or something else altogether, like maybe aliens!?

11 Answers

I did a report on this when I was in middle school; I was always fascinated by it. Really, despite all the fantastical solutions to the mystery that people come up with, the most logical explanation is that they were absorbed by the surrounding Native American tribes or in many cases, killed by them. There were reports later from Jamestown explorers that there were blond-haired Native Americans in the woods; there’s really only one explanation for that…

@DominicX Yes that’s the explanation everyone goes with and it is the most sensible! But I think the main part of the mystery is that there was still food on the table and stuff that made it look like they left in haste! I’m not sure but I like the fanciful theories too!

You are very welcome. I grew up in Virginia, so the topic was touched upon once or twice. :) You might be interested in the story of Virginia Dare, the first child born in America by English settlers, and part of the Lost Colony. Also, if you are ever in North Carolina and can go to Nags Head Beach, there is a play put on called The Lost Colony. They do a nice job.

“The late Irish historian David Beers Quinn was probably our most knowledgeable scholar on the Roanoke colony. He devoted his career to the study of the colonization of America. Quinn’s theory, developed after decades of studying many such accounts, is that the colonists abandoned Croatoan and separated into two groups. One group peacefully assimilated into the Carolina tribes to the west, and the other group went north to live with the friendly Chesapeake, reasoning that Virginia was the most likely place to which any future English colonists might come. We know that any who went north ultimately died, either naturally or at the hands of the Powhatan, but the fate of those who went to the Carolina mainland is less clear.”

@Pied_Pfeffer I live in North Carolina and was raised among speculation and tales of The Lost Colony! I confess though that I’ve never been to see the play!@crisw Thank you for that link! That is a slightly different spin on it! And never crossed my mind once that the colony itself was called croatoan!